The renewables boom - some good news for Queensland’s environment and economy

With sad stories around tree clearing, illegal waste dumping, questionable political donations, and the warmest winter on record, it’s past time Queensland had some good news for the environment.

This month’s Renewable Energy Index, produced by Green Energy Markets and GetUp, shows Queensland now has more renewables jobs than New South Wales. The renewables sector employs around 6,500 Queenslanders. Acting Energy Minister Curtis Pitt called on the Prime Minister today to acknowledge that “Queensland is leading the nation in renewables investment and energy pricing outcomes.”

Here in the sunshine state, we’re showing how easy it is to clean up the environment, reduce energy costs and create jobs through renewables. With 38 renewables projects underway and another 40 in the pipeline, Queensland will soon have an additional 15 gigawatts of renewable generation capacity, overtaking the state’s 12 gigawatts of fossil fuel capacity.

Queensland currently generates enough renewable electricity to power 1.3 million homes, and in doing so avoids CO2 emissions of around 1.7 million cars.

It’s good to see the Queensland Government supporting our future through clean energy. There's plenty of room to improve on other fronts, but we're on the right track for decarbonizing our grid. Let’s hope the Turnbull Government stops trying to keep us in the polluting energy past.